Darkness and shadow continually rushed towards me, forming a small, dense orb.
'More.'
As I drew more power from the surrounding darkness, calling upon the darkness that lay beyond even the stars, the darkness that existed at the furthest corners of existence, the orb grew both in size and density.
A Mana Art was an ultimate technique for an Awakened, it was something that could perhaps decide the fate of an entire war. This Mana Art was something closer to an Enlightened Art but due to my lacking skill, I couldn't yet call it call it that.
Honestly, it was cheating. If it weren't for being born into this bloodline with my talent, this could be impossible.
The space around had began to warp and twist, unable to bear the pressure exerted by the orb I had created. Though, darkness was something that didn't technically exert a physical force due to its lack of mass, as darkness was essentially just the absence of light. However, through the use of Mana, one could bypass the laws of physics and this was one way to do it.
'That was something Mana Arts occasionally did, but altering the laws of reality was typically something that was better suited for Enlightened Arts.'
Once the orb had become large enough to blot out all the surrounding light, it expanded outwards, rapidly encapsulating everything around me.
'This.. drains the hell out of my Mana. But, even while exhausted, Reinhardt is Reinhardt. This is the only way I can take him down with absolute certainty.'
"Sorry, Reinhardt."
Through this Mana Art, a separate dimension was created, and it served as an inescapable prison of death. However, I wasn't nearly strong enough to create an entirely separate space, all I could do was create a new 'room' of space. It was essentially the difference between two people being in different houses, and two people being in different rooms of the same house.
'Though, this enough.'
The darkness coalesced and flourished, and a grand Palace of darkness rapidly formed behind me. The Palace was a symbol of my authority, it represented how I was holding up, but notably, attacking the Palace served no purpose.
Laying my eyes on Reinhardt, I took a deep breath and extended my arm, aiming it at him before making a fist.
Without a moment's notice, several spikes poured into Reinhardt body, one by one, stabbing into his organs and dicing his bones.
Though we were far away, darkness wasn't a material thing, it wasn't the same as being in arena. Space didn't work the same here, for me that is.
Freezing my fist over, I took a step forward, and caused the space between us to seemingly contract before I delivered an uppercut, knocking him into the air for a brief moment.
'Don't let him catch his breath.'
Watching Reinhardt already begin to regenerate and preparing a counterattack, I delivered a jab to his stomach, before causing the darkness around that area to collapse and crush him, splitting him in two.
'I'm so sorry. I just don't know how to beat you without hurting you.'
Tendrils of darkness appeared and wrapped around his waist and upper half, tightligly constricting before splitting him in half, his organs spilling onto the floor and his bones breaking apart.
'I'm sorry.'
I didn't have the strength to beat him in one shot, but this Mana Art could overwhelm even him. I was sure of it.
"But, I can't show anyone else that this is how to beat you. You need to keep being invincible in everyone else's eyes."
'But thank God you can't understand what's going on, thank God you can't watch me tear you apart. I promise it's for your own good..'
I forced the space around his now detached legs to crumple up, promptly crushing them. I could only crush his legs as they were now no longer being enhanced by his Arcane Magic, otherwise I wouldn't ever have been able to crush them so easily.
Then, tendrils comprised of shadows and darkness raised him up and tightened around his arms, trapping him. I watched as his body slowly repaired itself, his spine and bones being remade before flesh and skin covered his body, his Cloak hiding the parts of his body that shouldn't be shown to the public.
'Do I really need to hurt you more before you go down?'
I watched as radiant light released from his body, erasing the restrains of darkness that bound him.
"The darkness that makes up this Palace isn't so fickle that a halfling's light can erase it."
Light and dark fought, each attempting to snuff the other in a struggle for dominance. However, Reinhardt's light was no match, not in that broken and beaten state. There was simply no way that he could possibly win against a technique that had been passed down in my family for generations. There aas world where it would be defeated by someone who could barely control the strength of the Divine.
"This is how you use the strength of a God."
Then, the world around us shook and trembled before several small orbs of compressed darkness formed and morphed into humanoid, armoured creatures to form a small battalion.
"The darkness I called upon comes even from as far as the corners of the universe. So, don't feel bad about losing to me. It's just that light cannot overcome the depth of my darkness."
I spoke, internally cringing a little.
'You know, I'd make a pretty cool villain considering what I can do.'